Hello, friends. I apologize first and foremost for my inactivity on deviantART. I have a feeling this site has passed me by and that my hay day here has come to an end. I'm not leaving dA, but I can't see myself posting much here anymore, if at all. I rarely draw, and much of my writing (at least, my short stories) will not be posted here in the future because I am trying to get them all published in literary magazines. The writing that I will be putting on the Internet will be on my new WordPress blog, "The Sorry Songbird." If you're not already following it, feel free to do so in order to keep updated while I write the majority of Boot Hill this summer--yes, I'm actually doing it this time. There will be a lot of updates and exclusive material, so I wouldn't want any of you to miss out!

A lot has happened in the past six months, the most interesting thing being that I won a creative writing award from Northern Arizona University for recognition of outstanding achievement in creative writing--fiction. I received a sum of money that I will use toward school and a really lovely certificate that is currently on my cork board so that I can look at it for encouragement whenever I want to. I won it for the story most of you knew as "The Record Keeper," and the voting board claimed that my writing was "post-graduate" level, which is literally the most incredible compliment I could've ever received from professors/creative writers I respect more than anything. I'm so honored to be recognized by professionals for doing what I love.

To those of you who I haven't talked to in months, I am so sorry for neglecting my responsibility as a friend. This semester at university was so incredibly challenging that I hardly had time for anybody--even myself (and I'm not quite done yet, so please bear with me for just another week before I start contacting you all again). I've written more than 125 double-spaced pages of writing (mostly literary analysis); I've read more than 14 books; and I've watched around 18 films this semester. Fortunately, I don't see semesters getting much harder than this one, and I survived with my 4.0 GPA still in tact, I hope.

But I digress: I do hope to contact all of my dear friends who have sent me letters or e-mails during the school year!

I love you all and I hope all is well. How has everyone's 2013 been so far? Any news I may have missed?